We interviewed Nicolle Anderson at the Kingston Business Expo 2017

Tino: Okay, so welcome back to Business First TV. My name is Tino, coming today from Kingston.Nicolle.: You do that every time. You're like, "Where am I today?" Tino: Where am I? I know. Isn't it really bad? Nicolle, welcome back to the show. How are you?Nicolle.: Thank you. I'm really well. How are you?Tino: It's been a long time.Nicolle.: It has been exactly a year.Tino: Exactly a year. Nicolle.: Yeah, because I still worked ... Maybe not quite. But anyway, I saw you here, at Kingston Expo, this time last year. It was the day before the referendum.Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: So a lot has changed in many ways.Tino: It has. So how's business for you?Nicolle.: Really good. So, since I've seen you last, we have won two awards. Tino: Two?Nicolle.: Yes! Best New Business in London, through the FSB, Best New Business in Merton, which is our borough, just up the road, and we've also moved in to offices in Raynes Park. Tino: Well, and I've got invitations for all of them, but clearly they're stuck in a post. Nicolle.: Right. You did get an invitation to our office opening.Tino: Maybe.Nicolle.: If you are on our mailing list. Tino: I might not be.Nicolle.: You might be too busy to notice, now that you have 13 twitter accounts. Tino: 14 actually. Nicolle.: 14?Tino: 14. I know, we're across the UK now. Almost. Nicolle.: That's exciting.Tino: For the people who didn't listen to you last year, what's Business Clan and what are you about? Nicolle.: Okay, so we are Business Clan. We are a team of specialists who help companies when they don't have the time or skills to do everything in house. So we have marketers, HR consultants, strategists, web designers, accountants, IT consultants, CRM specialists, everything that small businesses need but they don't necessarily have in house or even have the time to do even if they have those skills.Tino: Okay, right.Nicolle.: So I do the business development for them. I go out and meet clients, find out what their struggling with, what they don't have time to do and then I work out which members of our team can help them, and, yeah. We work really flexibly with everybody, so some people with a lot of one-off projects, like web design. Others work with us on a continuous basis, like Printland, who you're going to talk to next. We help them with their marketing but also with their accountancy, their bookkeeping, and just keeping them focused, making sure that they have a strategy and they know what they're trying to achieve. Tino: Now it's fair to say that you play a big part at Business Clan, don't you? It's your baby, isn't it? Nicolle.: So my friend Delia ... I have a very good friend, Delia. We've been friends for 10 years. It was her idea. She founded it. Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: She is the clever one, I am the chatty one. Tino: Okay. I'd never think you're chatty. I'd never say it.Nicolle.: You do funny faces to camera? Tino: You can do funny faces to camera.Nicolle.: No, I don't want to. Thanks.Tino: Well it's my camera. Nicolle.: No, that's fine-Tino: She does have a funny face.Nicolle.: So I do the business development. Tino: Okay, yeah. Nicolle.: So I go out and ... Yeah. I get the clients-Tino: Okay. Do me a favour. Look at a camera and say, "I do business development." Nicolle.: Okay. I'm the business development director for Business Clan.Tino: Excellent. So they'll know exactly who to find, yeah. Okay. And how do people find you?Nicolle.: Our website is BusinessClan.com. We're on Facebook, Business Clan. It's very simple. Twitter @BusinessClan.Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: We're networking all over boroughs of Kingston and Merton. Our clients are based all over southwest London.Tino: If there was a typical client that you were looking for today, what would that person look like?Nicolle.: Our target market is companies that have been around for a couple of years that are of a certain size. They're doing really well but they suddenly don't have the time to do everything themselves and they just need to be running everything a little bit tighter. So we go in and we can help them in all different kinds of ways and just take the pressure off of them so they can get on with doing whatever they do best.Tino: Just remind us again-Nicolle.: Yes?Tino: ... exactly how do you help people?Nicolle.: How do we help people?Tino: Because you've just said quite a lot so just give us some examples. Some examples of what you're doing.Nicolle.: Okay. Yep. Often people come to us for help with marketing.Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: We can help in that way, because we've got brand designers, we've got website designers, we've got people that help with SEO, Google AdWords, social media managers. So we can help with all aspects of marketing.Tino: Wow.Nicolle.: But then, often what people need before that is a really specific plan, so Delia helps them with their business clan ... plan. Plan.Tino: Plan, clan. It does rhyme. It's close.Nicolle.: Yeah. And Alina, she's a marketing strategist, too. So we start from that, but what we're really great with, as well as helping them with the plan, we implement that plan for them. Because, you know, it's great having a plan, but if you don't have time to deliver it then it's not much use to you.Tino: Okay. Finally-Nicolle.: Yes?Tino: ... do people pay you one offs or pay you regularly? Do you have regular clients? [crosstalk 00:04:17].Nicolle.: Yes. It seems kind of-Tino: ... long term commitment thing or-Nicolle.: Yeah, they could ... We're really flexible.Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: So, sometimes it's a one off project, it's fixed fee. Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: Other times they want to work with us on an ongoing basis, so it's time and materials. Tino: Okay.Nicolle.: And then once we've got a really good relationship, retainer basis, they pay us so much per month-Tino: Right. Nicolle.: ... and they can draw from all the different skills.Tino: Fantastic. I think Paul is going to sign up for that. Nicolle.: Is he? Oh, because he has a beard? Okay. Tino: One more, look at the camera, tell us who you are and how to find out more.Nicolle.: Hi, I'm Nicolle Anderson from Business Clan. We help companies when they don't have the time or skills to do everything in house. You can find us at www.BusinessClan.com. Tino: Hoo rah! Tino, Business First TV, over at ... What are we?Nicolle.: Kingston Expo at the Kingston Business School. Tino: Ok, we're done. That's a wrap